Gilded rose
by Yojimbra
Summary: Ruby wakes up to find that the spirit of Pyrrha is inside of her head. Now she has to figure out if she's crazy while dealing with a very polite ghost that wants to get with the still very much alive Jaune Arc. And all she wants to do is read comics. And save the world.
1. Chapter 1

'Hello?'

Ruby shot up from her bed, a cold sweat washing over her. Why was she hearing Pyrrha's voice in her head? Was this some kind of weird psychological thing from seeing her friend die?

'Is someone there?' Pyrrha's voice echoed again, she felt a ghost of movement in her hand, like it was being held down by a sandbag, but in the opposite direction. 'Please help, I can't move my body!'

'Pyrrha?' Ruby thought, desperately hoping that the ghost wasn't going to answer back.

'Ruby? Is that you? What's happening I can't see you… or move my head, it's like my body is moving on its own.' She sounded tired, and so far away, even as her voice began to quicken in panic. 'Did Cinder capture you? Is she in control of my body? What happened?

'Pyrrha! Calm down!' Ruby thought, kicking the covers off her bed and embracing the cold air of the cabin room that she was sharing with Nora. Thankfully Nora slept like a rock - a rock in the middle of an earthquake but a rock nonetheless.

'My body is moving on its own! Why's Nora there? Is she safe? She looks safe? Ruby where are you?' Ruby sighed and walked towards the bathroom. She was really hoping this was just a dream and that when she looked in the mirror she would just see herself, sleep deprived and looking absolutely horrible.

But she didn't see herself in the mirror. She didn't have bright red hair, she didn't have green eyes, she didn't wear red and gold armor, and she wasn't six feet tall. She wasn't Pyrrha. Her hands still looked the same and so did her body, hair was still mostly black with a bit of red. She was still Ruby.

She was probably just tired, and depressed. Yes, that was it. She hadn't slept because she was too sad about the recent attack and it was messing with her head about not being there in time to save a dear friend. That was it she was just feeling grief and seeing a figment of her imagination in the mirror.

Ruby pressed her palms into her eyes and blinked at the mirror one last time. Yep still there.

'Hello?' The formerly cheerful voice of Pyrrha echoed through her mind sending a shiver through her body that made her toes curl

"You're hallucinating Ruby, that's it yea." Ruby blinked trying to make the image of Pyrrha go away. It didn't work even with the lights on! That only made things worse!

'Ruby?' Pyrrha asked moving as though to pass through the mirror but was stopped by something. 'What's happening? Why am I here? Why can I see myself in the mirror and see you looking at the mirror from the other side of the mirror.'

There was a pause that lasted ages. 'Why am I not dead?'

"You are," Ruby reached out and touched the cold glass of the mirror. "I was too late, I couldn't save you, cinder… she… she killed you."

'So I'm a ghost?' Pyrrha gasped, one hand clutching at her heart while another braced against the mirror. Her green eyes were wide. 'Don't panic Ruby, it's okay I'm not haunting you I swear! It's okay don't panic, don't panic!'

"I'm not panicking! You're panicking!" Ruby whispered loudly, pointing a finger towards the mirror. This wasn't making any sense whatsoever. "why are you panicking? You're the ghost!"

'I can't help it!' Pyrrha half squealed, she looked towards Ruby and let out of small whimper. 'I'm afraid of ghosts.'

Ruby whined and rested her head on the countertop. Either she was going insane, or Pyrrha's ghost actually was haunting her and was now afraid of herself. This was going to make a lot of things really really awkward.

"So are you really Pyrrha or am I going crazy?" Ruby asked propping herself up to at least look the ghost of Pyrrha in the eye. Why was she the sane one right now? That was Pyrrha's job! She was one of the levels headed ones, it was Ren to Nora, Blake to Yang, Weiss to her, Jaune to Pyrrha! She was not one of the level-headed ones!

Pyrrha took a few deep breaths and forced a pained smile. 'I am Pyrrha, at least I think I am,' She shook her head and stood taller, 'No, I am Pyrrha Ruby, you have to believe me. I… I just know that I am'

Well, she was certainly tall like Pyrrha was.

'Ruby? What happened… after I uh died.'

The was on the list of things she didn't need right now. Right up there with a cup of extra caffeinated coffee without milk or sugar. How should she say this? Best to just blurt everything out. She took a deep breath and then. "Beacons gone Ozpin's dead there's a giant stone dragon on the clock tower because I have silver eyes Yang lost an arm Weiss went back to her parents Blake went somewhere so now me Ren Nora and Jaune are going to haven academy to try and find a lead on cinder and they left me in charge of the map and I have no idea what I'm doing!"

All of that came out as a massive jumble of words that even she had a hard time keeping track of.

Pyrrha blinked at her and then sighed a small smile on her face. 'I see so everybody is still alive after I failed them.'

"You didn't fail anybody Pyrrha, you did what you had to, we all did, I'm just sorry I couldn't make it to you faster." It had followed her everywhere she went the nagging notion that if she had spent less time worrying about Jaune and just went to help Pyrrha, then everything would have been so different. Cinder wouldn't have escaped, Weiss wouldn't have left, Pyrrha wouldn't have died and who knows what else would have changed? "It's all my fault Pyrrha, it's my fault that you're…"

'Dead?' Pyrrha asked hand braced against the glass waiting for Ruby to join her. 'It's not your fault Ruby, I was too weak, Ozpin told me to be careful fighting Cinder, that I still needed to learn how to use my new powers so no, it's not your fault. You did all you could, If anything I should be the one to apologize about Penny, she was your friend, and I should have known… I just felt like I had to win I'm so sorry.'

Ruby let out a small laugh and smiled sadly at the mirror, "Well I guess you really are Pyrrha, I don't think any other ghost would be as nice as you."

Pyrrha returned the smile, 'Thank you Ruby, but for the record, I have no idea why I'm… inside of your head, this is so weird.'

"Well, maybe we need to resolve some stuff for you so that you can pass on peacefully, like in the stories." Ruby shivered, recalling many sleepless nights after one of Yang's horrible ghost stories. There were just something that shouldn't be done to a hyperactive six-year-old while their father was away!

'Well… there is the not being able to save everyone and stopping cinder.'

"That one might take a while, is there something else? Like you stole someone's cookies but you felt super guilty about it and now you can't live with yourself - sorry bad phrasing - because you can't tell them because if you did they might hate you!" Ruby almost shouted she was out of breath by the time she finished and was staring an amused Pyrrha in the mirror.

'Is that from personal experience?'

"No…. maybe… don't tell Weiss!"

There was a knock on the door. "Ruby? You okay in there?"

It was Jaune, she heard Pyrrha gasp, and her own heart felt like it was using her semblance while her body remained perfectly still. "Oh umm, I'm fine, say you wouldn't happen to be seeing any ghosts would you?"

'Ruby!' Pyrrha whispered through her ghostly teeth, though the sound was once again coming from inside her mind. 'You can't tell Jaune about me you can't'

"Why?" Ruby asked, she took a look back at the mirror and saw it devoid of Pyrrha. Weird.

"Ghost? Why what? Did you fall in or something? I'm coming in okay?" Jaune sounded awake, more awake than he should be at this time of night. The door opened and in walked her stupidly tall blond friend that wasn't dressed in his PJs, sweat was pouring down his brow and Crocea Mors rested on his arm. "What are you doing?"

'Can he see me? Please don't tell me he can see me! Ruby, you have to hide me!' Great the ghost in her mind was panicking again.

"Oh, hey there Jaune, I just couldn't go the sleep," she laughed scratching the back of her head, she needed an excuse, something believable! "I guess I'm going a little crazy after everything that happened so I decided to talk to the voices… that are inside my head…. In the bathroom…."

'Ruby!' Pyrrha whined, 'Don't tell him the truth like that!

'My bad sorry!' Ruby wanted to say but kept her mouth shut.

'It's okay, just laugh like you're joking'

Thankfully just thinking to herself would let Pyrrha hear her, that was going to make her look slightly less crazy after all crazy people talking to themselves, but most normal people actually thought to themselves. Well, maybe not Jaune.

"Oh," Jaune slumped, and scratched the back of his head before he leaned against the door frame. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"Not really no, I managed to get some sleep." She looked at him closely, his clothes were dirty, and there was fresh mud on his boots. "Were you outside just now?"

"Yea," Jaune lifted an arm weekly, "Since I couldn't sleep I thought I should train, ya know, just hoping it was more productive than just laying there. That and it would make me more tired."

"Don't wear yourself out Jaune, we still need our fearless leader in the morning." Ruby hopped up on her ankles and smiled before she fell back down swaying slightly.

Jaune rolled his eyes at her, probably it was hard to tell in the dim moonlight. "Thanks, Ruby, come on I'll make us some hot chocolate, maybe that will help us sleep."

XXXX

Jaune was a hot chocolate god. Sure it was just the little packets, mixed with water and a bit of milk, and it had tiny bits of marshmallows in it. But it was still the best hot chocolate she had ever had. "You sure know how to make a hot chocolate."

"Heh, thanks," Jaune smiled holding his cup tight close. He took his first sip, while ruby was nearing the halfway point. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

She heard Pyrrha gasp someone inside of her mind. "Do you think it will help?"

"Who knows? But it probably wouldn't hurt." Jaune gave a laugh that sounded heartbreaking.

'Oh Jaune,' Pyrrha sighed.

"Well," Ruby took another sip of her hot chocolate. At least this was good. "It still feels like all this shouldn't have happened, like it's just a horrible nightmare and that I'm just waiting to wake up to having my team whole again and we're all at beacon getting ready for our next year. But I know it's not. What about you?"

"I feel the same honestly. But," He scratched the back of his head. "There's just one moment that I keep playing over and over and my mind, it's been driving me crazy, and I well I regret not noticing sooner. It's so obvious now that I think about it."

"What is it?"

"It's Pyrrha." He smiled softly taking a long drink from his cup, enough to catch up to her. Ruby could feel the spirit clench inside of her mind, and her own heart began to pound in response. "Before she went off to die before she pushed me into the locker. She kissed me."

"It's been on my mind ever since, that I'll never be able to kiss her again, it's selfish I know, but I... " He ran a hand through his greasy blond hair. "I realized that I loved her too late and that I won't ever be able to tell her. That I'm an idiot and I love her."

Ruby swallowed and pretended to drink her hot Chocolate despite her cup being empty. "Well, I'm sure that she had a feeling that you at least liked her."

'Jaune loved me?' Pyrrha's voice resonated with her body, sending a shiver down her spine.

'You kissed Jaune?' Ruby thought loudly. 'Wait! You loved Jaune? This has unresolved love issue written all over it!'

 **AN: Hi! So I'm here with a new Ruby fic. Eventually. I'll stop putting random characters into other characters heads some day... eventually. Anyways Hope you all enjoy! let me know if you want me to continue this.**


	2. Chapter 2

'Are you okay with this?' Ruby asked, trying to stir the ghost of Pyrrha into speaking, the girl was no chatterbox, but she was slowly growing more vocal as time passed. However, when Jaune was around she grew oddly silent.

'Do you mean the being dead part, or the being stuck inside your head part?' Pyrrha retorted in her overly formal and polite way that was about as aggressive as a warm kitten. 'Because honestly, I'm still getting used to it.'

'Me too,' Ruby smiled, 'I'm going to miss my me time.'

'Sorry!'

'What no Pyrrha I was making a joke! I'd rather have you here like this than not here at all' Ruby flailed her arms in a panic, earning herself a raised eyebrow from Ren. "Oh uhh, don't mind me just working out excess energy!"

"Perhaps eating fewer cookies would help?" Ren offered with that half smug smile of his, he only gave when he was in a good mood.

Ruby gasped. "You leave my cookies out of this! I didn't even have any today! Just look at Nora, she's twice as spazzy as me and she doesn't eat cookies!"

"Yes but Nora is Nora, and you are Ruby," Ren said turning to look at the orange-haired girl that continuously tried to be ever so slightly closer than she should to him.

Nora jumped in front of them hands on her hips in a power pose. "Yea I get all my energy from the power of coffee!"

"You don't drink coffee."

"Correction you don't let me drink coffee!"

'I miss those two' Pyrrha said, her voice a distant echo like speaking to a friend on the other side of a tunnel. 'I do wonder when they're going to become a couple.'

'Uhuh, no way, I already have to deal with one unresolved love story I'm not doing another!' She skipped those parts in her comics! She was fairly certain she didn't have a romantic bone in her body! Even Yang had a boyfriend for like a week but that still counted, Ruby was going to happily spend the rest of her life single hunting Grimm and eating cookies.

Pyrrha paused, Ruby could almost feel her clutching her hand over her chest, like invisible strings attached to her hand. 'Are you certain that's what is the cause of this. I mean, I do love Jaune, but I've also accepted that I'm dead'

'Well do you have any better ideas?' Ruby huffed, her eyes kept flickering towards Jaune as the man stripped off his standard armor that he had worn for years, revealing the black sweater he always had on. And the giant bunny on his chest.

"What is that!?" Ruby shouted, already feeling the giggles trying to escape.

"What my hoodie?" Jaune gestured to the ridiculous rabbit on his chest.

She couldn't contain herself! Jaune wasn't a Macho man by any stretch of the imagination if anything Nora who was wearing a skirt was more manly than him! But to finally see that his hoodie that he wore all the time had a bunny on it. It was too much! "It's got a cute little bunny rabbit!"

That did it she was giggling uncontrollably now.

"It's Pumpkin Pete!" Jaune exclaimed. That only made things worse for him. "You know from the cereal."

'For the first time ever.' Pyrrha thought just loud enough to be heard. 'I think I'm glad to be dead.'

More laughter, her breath was running out and she gestured towards. The Sweater again. Honestly, it was incredibly cute, and she'd wear it on a day off or something. But as part of her battle armor? "What did you do? Send in a box top for a prize?"

"Yes! Fifty!"

That did it she was literally on the growled rolling in laughter. Her sides were starting to hurt and she couldn't help but kick her legs.

`Ruby could you not laugh at Jaune like that!` Pyrrha chastized she could feel her friend's disappointment. 'He's rather sensitive about how he looks.'

"But it's so Cute!" Ruby laughed kicking her legs up in the air.

'Ruby….'

'Fine, fine, I won't tease Jaune about his ADORABLE sweater anymore' Ruby stood and tried to fight down her giggles. "I'm sorry Jaune, I just can't stop laughing when I see something cute!"

It was a weakness.

"It's fine Ruby, really, I know it can be a bit ridiculous; besides I-" Jaune was cut off by his sword and shield being placed on to the countertop.

The gold trim brought out the best of the white and somehow made it look complete. 'That's what I was wondering about.'

'What do you mean?' Pyrrha responded quickly, marveling at the new shield and Jaune's armor.

'Are you really okay with Jaune using your shield like that?' Ruby marveled at the sword as Jaune brought it out, the gold really did make it better. 'Melting it down and adding it to his armor.'

She could feel Pyrrha's smile so warm in kind. 'Yea, I am, at least this way it will be of use to him, and something of me will be with him.'

XXXX

Ruby was fairly certain she was reading this map right. Probably, maybe. She didn't Yang always had the map when they were younger, and then Weiss always seemed to know where to go and who trust her with the map again?

'Ruby,' Pyrrha asked, it felt as though there was a finger tapping her on the shoulder. A ghostly one that sent a chill up her spine. 'I believe that you're holding the map upside down.'

'That matters?' Ruby asked quickly turning the map right side up. It was like magic, suddenly the squiggles became words she could read and she more or less had a good idea of where they were. 'Oh hey, thanks, Pyrrha!'

Okay, so it looks like they were about an inch away from the next town, one that had an airship! That was great, and it was only an inch so it couldn't be that far. It might even be just around the next hill!

'Ruby?' that concerned and overly helpful ghost in her head said slowly.

'Yes, Pyrrha?'

'Do…' She paused, and Ruby's hand's felt cold like she needs to rub them awkwardly. 'Do you know how to read a map?'

'Nope!' But it really couldn't be that hard right? It was just a piece of paper with directions and stuff on it. 'This is my first time holding the map!'

'Do you mind if I teach you how?'

'Oh yes please!'

As Pyrrha began to teach her the basics of map reading, what the compass is for, what the little lines dictate, and most importantly what the little bar with the numbers next to it really meant Ruby began to realize that when people said Anima was big. They meant that Anime was the biggest thing in forever!

'So wait the next village is one hundred miles away?' That was more than she'd ever walked in her entire life! That was further away than her village to beacon, hell! That was several times further than her village to beacon. Probably.

'Give or take a few miles. But remember, there could be a new village between here and there.' Ruby felt her heart race, that'd be great! Maybe they'd even have an airship! Just thinking about walking one hundred miles was making her feet hurt. Not to mention all the Grimm they'd run into along the way. 'But remember there's also the chance that some of the villages on here aren't there anymore'

She sounded so sad. 'Did something happen Pyrrha?'

'When I was at Sanctum academy, we were regularly sent out as part of a relief attempt after a Grimm attack, or at least we were supposed to, more often than not the town was destroyed, a reminder of what we fought were training for I suppose.' Pyrrha paused, the confliction emotion within her was leaking out into Ruby's mind. 'It was good in a way. But…'

Ruby kept silent, eyes focused on the trail ahead of her, and specifically the back of Jaune's head, if for no other reason than her eyes kept being drawn to the boy. He was their fearless leader after all, brazenly pushing forward and trusting in her sense of direction.

Looking at Jaune also soothed Pyrrha's spirit. 'But then one day, the village I was born in was attacked.'

'Oh Pyrrha,' Ruby clenched her fists crinkling the map around her.

'When we got there it was too late, a lot of the village was destroyed, I lost friends and family that day.' Pyrrha was whispering the last part. 'Only my mother survived, and only just.'

Why? Why did it have to be a sob story! She sucked at dealing with this kind of things, she hated that they had to happen to people she cared about. 'I'm so sorry Pyrrha.'

'It's okay Ruby, Mistral is larger than Vale, but it's also a lot more dangerous, that's why I have to ask are you guys sure about this? Going to Haven to look for Cinder I mean you saw what she did to me, and now she has the power of the fall maiden.'

'Fall Maiden?' Ruby asked.

'Oh, I suppose I should tell you what exactly happened.'

 **AN: I'm actually kind of having a rough time with this fic. The inspiration and will to write as there but I'm stuggling to deviate from Canon so I'm not just retelling Volume 4 and Five.**

 **Because this isn't my regular fandom, I should inform you of how I write. Generally speaking I'm very light on action, often not writing it at all through the use of small skips. So basically more character driven drama less action. More fluff too.**

 **Anyways hope you enjoyed this slightly shorter chapter, I'll try to make certain the next chapter is 2k minimum.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Jaune,"

Ruby groaned opening her eyes to stare at early morning stars that were just beginning to fade against the sun's light. It'd actually be rather beautiful if it wasn't so early. The Grimm Alarm wasn't going off, nor was there any screaming or shrieking, it was probably nothing. 'Pyrrha,'

'Mmm?' the voice inside her head groaned with a lack of sleep that rivaled her own.

"Go back to bed, stop calling Jaune's name," Ruby mumbled burying her face into the covers. "It's too early for this."

Pyrrha went silent, she could still feel her there, the same way she felt her arm, or ears.

"Jaune,"

'That wasn't me!' Pyrrha said as Ruby snapped wide awake. 'Well I mean it was, but it wasn't me right now.' She could feel Pyrrha's smile, it was happy yet sad like the two emotions were fighting a war rather than. 'A while back, I made Jaune a video to help him train in case….' The sadness won

"In case you weren't around?" Ruby finished kissing the warmth of her sleeping bag goodbye, there was no way that she was going back to sleep now. Never thought she'd be a morning person. Nora was sound asleep and Ren was doing that thing where he pretended to sleep by closing his eyes and not moving. They were probably used to her talking to herself anyway.

'Yea,' Pyrrha mumbled. 'Do you think we can go check on him? To make sure he's actually training?'

Ruby nodded, weaving her ways through the trees towards the sound of Pyrrha's voice. Her other voice. Not the one in her head. It was almost like Pyrrha in stereo. The forest was peaceful this far away from other people, Grimm were sparse in the space between villages. It was why a settler would find a nice quiet spot and start a town there, only for it to draw people, and ultimately draw Grimm. At Least that's what professor Oobleck said in class.

Jaune stood in the middle of a clearing, sword, and shield at the ready, his eyes focused away from his scroll that glowed with the image of Pyrrha. He followed the instructions that the recording gave to the letter like he had done it a thousand times.

'I was a coward.' Pyrrha's voice rang as clear as a bell in her mind. And the emotions came with it. The love she felt for Jaune, the year she spent trying to gather up the courage to admit something anything, relishing every small moment of intimacy, the longing stares, treasuring every single moment of intimacy. Hand touching, shoulder resting, smiles.

One thing was apparent, 'Jaune's kind of dense isn't he?'

'I hoped that he was just insecure, he said that there was no way a girl like me could like him.' Pyrrha gave a heavy sigh, and Ruby found her shoulders slumping with the motion. 'But I didn't help things, I couldn't tell him. No matter how much I wanted, no matter how much I tried. It was worse than any Grimm.'

'But, you would have been happy if you tried to say something.' Ruby gasped clapping a hand over her mouth 'I'm sorry Pyrrha I didn't mean to..'

'I know,' Pyrrha's voice interrupted her own internal thought. 'And you're right, I knew that if I could just confess to Jaune then we could be happy, but I just couldn't'

Jaune began to practice his sword work again, powering through the same three movements with an almost mechanical precision.

'Do you think you can help him?' Pyrrha asked.

'How?' She sucked at all this drama, love, regret, depression stuff.

A clear image of Pyrrha correcting Jaune's stance by touching his legs, and arms for longer than needed came to mind, then the image shifted and it was Ruby correcting his stance. 'Talk to him? Train with him? Anything but leaving him alone.'

She could do that. Probably. Jaune was her friend, technically her first friend she made at Beacon. Something that Pyrrha could claim as well. Unfurling Crescent Rose into a scythe, signaling her presence to Jaune.

"Ruby?" Jaune nearly jumped out of his skin, scrambling towards his scroll to turn off. "What are you doing here? It's not what it looks like! I was just. How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to know you need a training partner." She gave him a smile, putting an extra strut in her step with Crescent Rose acting as her dance partner. With a flourish, she spun her weapon pointing the stabby bit at Jaune, "What do you say? Want to work off some steam?"

"Thanks." Jaune flopped his sword as his side, shoulders slumped. "But I need to do this."

"Your swordsmanship is sloppy." Ruby didn't say that. Pyrrha did, with Ruby's voice. "You only keep your guard up on your right left, your final thrust lacks follow through leaving you open." She sighed, glaring at Jaune, circling him like a wolf would a lamb. "And finally you're letting your emotions get the better of you. It is good that you care Jaune, it's one of the things I admire about you. But in the heat of battle when it is life or death, you need to have a clear head."

'What was that?' Ruby thought loudly in her mind. 'How can you do that but not tell Jaune you love him?'

'I'm sorry!' Pyrrha screamed. 'I don't know what came over me. I just needed to tell him that and I used your mouth. I'm sorry!'

"You're right," Jaune spat, eyes looking towards the ground. "I know that okay. But what can I do? Every time I hold Crocea Mors I remember that I wasn't able to do anything. Ever. I was so weak that Pyrrha wouldn't even let me be there for her." His grip on his sword tightened, she could hear the leather straining. "I want to get better."

"Then let me help." Ruby held Crescent Rose to the side, blade up. "They did teach us swordsmanship at Signal, ya'know?"

'They did?'

'Well no, but I have you in my head'

"I don't want to be a burden, I can-"

"What?" Ruby took a step forward, then sped towards Jaune, Crescent Rose coming in from an overhead strike that Jaune barely managed to block. "Try to help your friends by yourself? Do you have any idea how hypocritical that is?! We all lost something, we were all there we all could have done more. So stop acting like a selfish jackass!"

She wasn't sure who was speaking then, Pyrrha's own voice screamed inside of her head, matching her word for word. Their emotions blending into the follow-up attack as Crescent Rose swung backward, twisting in the air to bring the blade down from under Jaune's defenses. Her own hypocrisy was not lost to her as she swung again after Jaune blocked the attack, this time with the hilt of her weapon like it was a spear, slamming the barrel into Jaune's armor, knocking him back before he could take advantage of the opening.

With a flourish she charged to Jaune resuming her assault without a moment's hesitation, her weapon spinning in the air like a whirlwind of death. She wouldn't kill Jaune, but he didn't need to know that. All he was doing was blocking her. "Fight back!"

Jaune roared knocking one of her strikes away setting Crescent Rose flying into the air as it spun. She moved to catch her weapon, only for Jaune to block that path by forcing her to dodge a follow-through attack. The force behind it was great, just like the maneuver he had been practicing.

This was bad, if she didn't get Crescent Rose, she'd be at a major disadvantage. If only there was some way for it to come back to her. No, she had to get to her weapon. She ducked under Jaune's shield sprinting for the still spinning weapon. She missed, touching air. No, that was wrong. She had her weapon in her hand. She spun with it, letting the momentum carry her as she controlled it to a stop. "Now the real training begins."

XXXX

"I take it back." Jaune let out a dry pant, the sun glaring down on them as their bodies were ready for sleep instead of the eight hours of walking they had to do today. Their match had probably gone on for far too long. Why weren't Ren and Nora here? Shouldn't they have said something by now?

'Ren probably thought it best that we work it out on our own.' Pyrrha's voice sounded no more exhausted than Jaune's, and she wasn't the one spinning a giant scythe around a murder speeds.

"Take what back?" Ruby asked looking towards Jaune, her arms hurt, and her legs hurt, her feet too. Still, despite the fact that Jaune took more hits than her he looked a lot better. Stupid vitality.

Jaune let out a groan sitting up - a feat Ruby wasn't sure she could do right now - and shook hair free of sweat. "I use to call Yang the crazy and scary one, I think you just took that title from her."

"Runs in the family." She flopped her hand in the air - which was about all she could accomplish at the moment - like she was gesturing to her father and sister. Her mom was also a little crazy scary. Then there was her aunt and uncle. Yep, she came from a family of crazy people.

'I think it's an occupational thing,' Pyrrha mumbled.

Jaune stood, a feat of strength and testament to his endurance, even as he groaned with pain every inch of the way. He grabbed her hand, pulling her up like she was a paper bag. "Next time let's not do this in the morning. Today's going to suck."

"It'll get easier if we keep doing it." She squeezed his hand finding the strength to smile up at him. Had his eyes always looked so kind and caring? Shaking her head she let go of his hand, feeling Pyrrha's disappointment like it was her own. "Anyways, we should make sure that Nora hasn't done anything to Ren."

"Sure, you need help?" Jaune still held his hand out. "I think we might have overdone it a bit."

"No, I'm fine, I just, one second." Ruby Stumbled against a tree, pulling at her boot, was her foot swollen or maybe her new boots were shrinking? A lot of her clothes were getting tighter now that she thought about it, and the cute little cuts in her stockings were wider. "I think everything's shrinking a little bit."

Especially her bra.

"Well, you are going through a growth spurt." Jaune stood by her like an overprotective big brother.

"What?" Her voice cracked at the volume, and she spun around like a dog trying to catch its tell to try and see what he was talking about. "But I haven't grown in three years!" Breasts notwithstanding but those stopped two years ago. "I'm done growing!"

Jaune just shrugged, "It's either that or I'm shrinking because you used to barely come up to my shoulder."

She stared at him, his face did seem closer than it used to be, and she didn't have to look up quite so much. Yep, her eyes came up to his chin now. "How the hell did I grow an inch in less than a month?"

It certainly explained why her feet were always hurting.

`Well,` Pyrrha chimed in. 'When I was your age I grew about six inches and umm three cup sizes in six months`

`Just great!` Ruby pouted, crossing her arms over her apparently still growing chest. She was already fine! She didn't need to be more than fine! That was Yang's area! "I liked being small!"

"Well, unless you grow another foot you'll still be shorter than me." Jaune laughed elbowing her as they walked towards camp. The action nearly knocking her over.

"That's just cause you're a giant freak!"

`And cute!`

Was that her or Pyrrha?

 **AN: Hello! Sorry for the long time no update, kind of lost motivation when I didn't get as many reviews/follows as I should have for the 2nd chapter. Mostly my fault for just adding to a canon scene instead of you know... writing a story. Anyways. I hope you all enjoy!**

Please Review to let me know if you're happy with this chapter or if you didn't like it. It really does help me make the story better for both of us. 


	4. Chapter 4

"Again!"

Her sword vibrated like a tuning fork as it bounced off of Jaune's shield. It wasn't her sword, it belonged to one of the fallen defenders of Shion village but, now it was the sword that she and Pyrrha would use to teach Jaune. Mostly because her scythe gave her an unfair advantage in that she was really really good with her scythe.

Jaune came in from the side, his sword aimed at the gap in her defenses. Unfortunately for him, she was faster than she was tough. Spinning with the rebound of her sword Ruby dodged his attack and moved to behind his reach. Pyrrha's invisible hand guided her, angling her next strike to inflict maximum damage. It would barely dent Jaune's aura, let alone his armor.

"Don't let me out of your sight!" That was Pyrrha. It was almost starting to feel normal having someone else use her voice and arms and feet. Except not at all. It was really freaky!

'Sorry!' Pyrrha gasped in her head. Their sword bouncing off of Jaune's shield as he spun to greet them. 'He's getting faster.'

'Yea it's almost scary.' Ruby moved to dodge out of his counter tack. It was Pyrrha's favorite move, getting in close and using the opponent's momentum against them, something only really possible thanks to her natural quickness. In the past, Pyrrha used her semblance to add to the move. Something they currently lacked.

She brought her free arm up to his forearm, it wouldn't do much due to their difference in strength but even a little would send such a powerful attack 0 wait. Why was Jaune dropping his sword?

'Footwork! You forgot your footwork!' She looked the moment she felt Jaune's foot hook behind her heel. Fuck her one weakness. Grapple checks. 'Grab his arm and pull to your left, bring your other leg to his knee!'

She did as she was told, and fell into Jaune's trip attempt, once again turning his momentum against him this time adding all of her weight to it as well -which was slightly more than she was used to much to her annoyance. Wait. Didn't that mean he was going to?

Ruby let out a squeak as she fell onto the ground Jaune following right behind her, and stopped an inch off the ground catching himself before he crushed her. Not that he actually would, Jaune was just a big, strong, and adorkable and did she mention his muscles? What? They were just so big!

More importantly. Jaune's face was close, very close. She could feel his hot breath as he swallowed looking at her wide-eyed. If either one of them wanted it would be so easy to kiss him. Easier than the time she grabbed him and kissed him before shoving him into a locker. It would be so easy. So very easy. She brought a hand up to his face touching his cheek, feeling the rough stubble of his slow-growing facial hair. She was inviting him in, welcoming any advance. Over a year of waiting and they could finally have something. 'That was clever Jaune,' She heard him swallow at her voice. 'You knew you couldn't hit me so you decided to immobilize me.'

He was so rigid completely frozen against her touch, it was rather cute. But if he wouldn't act she would.

"Ruby," Jaune swallowed. "What are you-"

Ruby blinked, gasped and pulled her hand away from Jaune's face, she could feel her ears trying to burn a hole into her skull and her cheeks must have been matching her name at the moment. "Oh Jaune, sorry! I was just umm I'm really proud of how big, you're umm, I mean strong, you're just getting really good. And I umm Pyrrha!"

'Yes?' why did it sound like Pyrrha was enjoying herself way too much?

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked the blush on his face fading as a sadness took over.

Oh right. That was probably still a soft spot for him. "Yea, well I just think that she'd be really proud of how far you've progressed." She gave a laugh and looked away from him, examining her sword that sat a few feet away. Her eyes focused on Crescent Rose as it sat perched against a tree. Soon she'd be reunited with her baby.

How long was he going to lay on top of her like this? It was like something out of a mushy romance comic or like one of the books Blake reads!

"Oh, umm, thank you, Ruby. That actually means a lot." She made the mistake of looking at his smile. Dammit! What the hell was wrong with her? Did it really take a second puberty for her to become interested in boys?

"Umm hey Jaune," she asked the dirt.

"Huh? Yea what's up?"

"Do you think you can get up now?"

Jaune let out a string of curses and apologies as he went from laying on top of her to standing straight up so fast he skipped the steps in between. Yep, there was that upper body strength. He leaned down again offering her his hand. "I'm sorry Ruby I was just so confused about what you were doing."

He's not the only one. "It's okay Jaune, I think that little maneuver you did confused both of us. But I don't think it'll work on a Grimm."

"Maybe not the big ones. But it might work if we fight something as small and fast as you are." He stood her up like she was a fallen lamp and let go of her hand in a hurry. "But it's a good thing we're a team and you'd be a better match against the quick ones."

"Don't worry Jaune," she slugged him in the arm. "I got your back!"

And then she fell flat on her face. Not because of any Grimm attack or offending root or even because Jaune slapped her on the back. No, she was more than capable of falling over on her own. Especially with her limbs being so much longer than what she used to. Stupid Puberty. She was supposed to be done with this! Her mom was short!

Jaune pulled her up against, grabbing her by her shoulders and standing her up like he was pulling the chair out for her. Except she was the chair and this was at least twice as awkward as Jaune pulling out the chair for her like they were on a date or something. That would actually be horrible a dose of awkward that potent could make an entire city spend the entire week in bed trying to pretend it didn't happen.

"You okay Ruby?" He asked her hands lingering ever so slightly on her shoulders. She nodded, fully ready to die from embarrassment. "I don't understand how you can be so graceful when fighting but trip over your own two feet while walking."

"It's a talent."

"Maybe we should have kept up with the Crater Face nickname?"

Ruby gasped spinning around and touching her face all over. "What? I don't have any pimples do I? Where are they how long have they been there? Does Yang know! Please don't let yang know!"

"What?" Jaune laughed. "No, I was talking about back in Beacon. When you called me Vomit Boy and I threatened to call you Crater Face because you kind of exploded on your first day at Beacon. And now I'm saying you're a Crater Face because you keep falling on your face making Ruby face craters. And the jokes not funny anymore is it?"

"It was never funny Jaune." She laughed feeling her mouth twitch up into a smile. "I actually kind of forgot about all that. Thanks for bringing that up again."

"No problem, I remember all of my awkward moments in painful detail."

"So, your whole life?"

"Pretty much," He rubbed the back of his head shoulder slumping. "But it mostly when you're around, I can relive those moments at will."

"Haha, the power of awkwardness!" She posed with Crescent Rose. "If we could harness it we'd be unbeatable! I wonder if I can make a gun that shoots awkwardness."

"We already have that."

"We do?"

Jaune pointed towards his mouth smiling. "See right here."

"What?" She laughed, clutching at her sides. "Your mouth is our secret weapon? Maybe we should try it out on the next Grimm!"

"Yep, it's been my secret weapon for years! The only problem is that it tends to attract bullies and send girls away." Jaune stuck his chest out in mock pride, then quickly deflated. "But how about we get back to training, I think we can go for one more round."

"If we do another one You'll have to carry me to the next village." she looked up to the sky, seeing the darkening rain clouds that hung overhead. "Besides I think we need to get going before-"

Naturally, it started raining at that very moment. Only a few drops at first. Then it was like a sheet of rain got tossed over them and the downpour began.

"You and your big mouth!" Jaune shouted, running over to retrieve their gear. "We need to hurry before Ren and Nora get mad. Again."

"Right!"

XXXX

A nice warm bath was exactly what she needed right now.

Instead, she got a lukewarm shower.

'My hair is growing really fast isn't it?' she asked plucking at a strand it felt like she had just cut it a week ago. It was also getting a lot redder at the ends too. 'Do you think this has something to do with you?'

'Sorry!' Pyrrha responded instantly. 'I don't know! This is my first time being trapped inside someone, or haunting? I don't know what's happening.'

'Welcome to the club' Ruby sighed vigorously scrubbing her hair with the cheap shampoo the inn provided. Everything hurt in more ways that one. Training Jaune was a workout, her arms and legs screaming at her for pushing them too far. Add to that the growing pains that were no doubt going to keep her up all night - again - and it was pretty much a miracle she hadn't killed someone. Or drowned herself in a mountain of cookies. 'How did you deal with long hair?'

'Oh, umm well it's kind of always been that way for me, ever since I was little I had a ponytail. And well I just kind of liked it I guess.' Pyrrha explained softly, an image of Pyrrha looking in the mirror as her mother pulled her hair into a ponytail flashed through Ruby's mind. It was kind of sweet, like when her own mother had cut her hair.

'But doesn't it like get in the way when you fight and stuff?'

'Not really, But I might be used to it. And you move a lot more than other people so longer hair would probably be more difficult for you. Why are you thinking about growing your hair out?' Pyrrha asked.

Ruby shook her head shaking the suds free like Zwei after a bath. 'No, I like my hair short less to worry about.' Besides, it was how her mom used to wear her hair.

Turning off the water Ruby felt all the stress come flying back into her body. So much for relaxation. The mirror showed her, the new her that came had a few extra inches in more places than she was comfortable with. If this kept up she'd be matching Yang in height soon enough, even if she now matched her sister in other ways.

'We might have to get a job or something just to pay for some new clothes.' But it wasn't like they could just wait around for some new clothes to be made for her out here. 'We'll just have to wait until we get to Mistral.'

'More importantly,' Pyrrha hummed, 'I've been meaning to ask you.'

'Ask away, it's not like I have a lot of secrets to keep from you.' Besides the whole silver eye things. She was not going to tell anybody about that ever.

'Do you like Jaune?'

 **AN: As I was writing this chapter I realized nothing important happened in it. And its literally nothing but fluff showing Jaune and Ruby's relationship.**

and I fucking loved it. They're so Dorky!

Anyways, next chapter might be a bit more... "Ploty?" ... and no I'm not talking about Ruby's boobs. Okay maybe a little.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm Sorry!" Ruby took a step away from the mirror her hands trying to reach for the towel. Her entire body felt hot like it was trying to boil the water that still clung to her skin. Why did Pyrrha have to ask her something strange like that while she was naked! That was at least a pajama question! Preferably even with a coat and a cup of hot chocolate, but not a naked question! "I don't think I heard you right."

'You don't hear me.' Pyrrha said in her mind, her friend appeared in the mirror green eyes focused on her and hands on her hips. 'We speak directly into your mind. Or something. Point being you heard me. But I will say it again. Do you like Jaune?'

Dammit. That's what she thought she thought. Doing her best to dry herself off Ruby chose to ignore the question as long as she could. 'But your mouth is moving when you show up in the mirror so it's kind of like talking to you?'

'Ruby, if you don't want to tell me that's fine, but I'm just worried about something,' Pyrrha's anger vanished like it was never even there. Replaced with the endless ocean of empathy Pyrrha had.

"What are you worried about?" She dried off her hair once more looking at Pyrrha, her own reflection stood right next to her ghostly friends, even Pyrrha wasn't looking quite so tall anymore. Why did all this weird stuff have to happen to her? She just wanted to be a normal girl - with a scythe - with a normal family and go to a normal - monster hunting - school and have normal friends. Now she was crossing the planet to try and hunt down the girl that killed the girl inside of her head. Not exactly normal by anybody's standards.

'Well I'm just worried that my-'

There was a knock on the door. "Ruby?" It was Jaune. "Are you okay? I heard you talking to yourself. Again."

"Oh, yea! I'm totally fine! Don't worry about me! Just trying to uhh destress and complaining about the rain!" This was her first time talking to a boy while she was naked. And it was Jaune! Why the hell did that matter! She talked to Yang naked and she was blonde so that was basically just like Jaune. Except not at all. Why was she freaking out! It was Jaune!

Jaune that dopey loser boy that had as much game as she did! If she were to add the amount of game they had together it'd still be below zero! There was absolutely no way that she should be freaking out right now! There was a door and a towel and a threat of a swift death if he dared to try and open the door.

"Are you sure?" Jaune asked his voice carrying through the door like it was nothing.

"Yea Umm, I'm fine!" Just please don't open the door, just please don't open the door.

"Oh well, umm can we talk about what umm happened earlier?" Jaune stuttered his way through that sentence, she could practically feel him blushing. "I'm umm not exactly sure what's umm going on I'm not really good with this kind of thing but I."

He stopped and she could practically hear his blush.

Mostly because when she looked in the mirror her own pale face was glowing.

"Hey Jaune," She asked biting her lip. What was the best way to to get him to wait or drop it? Whatever it was. If Jaune was blushing then it was either really stupid or really bad. Probably both. Or neither she didn't know!

'Ruby, breath.' Pyrrha's calm voice washed over her and did absolutely nothing to the conversation.

'Why did you have to ask me that?' she screamed in her mind loud enough to give herself a headache. 'Now I can't stop freaking out about it'

'Sorry.'

"Yes, Ruby?" Jaune finally replied through the door.

"Umm can this conversation wait until I'm umm not just getting out of the shower?" Any conversation with Jaune required clothes. Lots of clothes. On both of them! Especially pajamas. He got one pajama talk that was all he was getting! Okay, maybe two. But that was only because she did not want to deal with putting on her usual outfit. Why can't she be more practical? Jaune was practical he fought in armor and a hoodie.

"Huh?" Jaune sounded confused. Which was normal. Then she heard the switch flip in his mind. "Oh! I uh, right I'm so sorry Ruby I've just had a lot of uhh you on my I mean that is uhh. I'm going to shut up and walk away now."

She laughed feeling her tension vanish, at least for the moment. "Good idea Jaune I'll talk to you in a bit."

What was she going to say? What was he going to ask?

'That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.' Pyrrha said softly, it was easy to picture her holding her hand over her heart like she used to. Partially because ruby was now mirroring that pose. 'I'm worried that my emotions are influencing yours, Ruby. That's why I wanted to know if you ever had any feelings for Jaune'

"Oh." Ruby placed her back against the door. That could explain some things. Not a lot. But some. 'I don't really know. I mean he was my first friend at Beacon. And I talk to him a lot. But that's just because we're both awkward, we're socially inept buddies! That's all.'

'Ruby' Pyrrha sounded like she was begging. 'Please we're partners now, I need you, to be honest to both of us. I know how I feel about Jaune, but you're still uncertain aren't you?'

Ruby sighed running her hand through her hair. 'He never flirted with me ya'know?'

'Did you want to be?

'No?' She didn't sound sure. 'Yes? Maybe? I don't know. I was just aware of that fact. I mean he hit on Weiss, Blake, even Yang. But not me, I mean I was fine with it, but I kind of wanted to know why.'

'Is that how you really felt?' Pyrrha asked, her voice sounding all the more worried. She could feel the girls concerns. 'Because I remember that frustration. Jaune was my first friend at Beacon as well. Are you sure those were your feelings are were they mine? Or do I have yours?'

Silence fell between them, punctuated by the dripping of the shower head. She searched into her memories, trying to find them. She remembered showing Jaune Crescent Rose, his reaction to her weapon and the way he fumbled with his shield. But so do did she remember Weiss introducing her to Jaune… as Pyrrha? She remembered throwing her spear to catch him. The pure joy of being his partner the excitement, the first buddings of a crush.

'Pyrrha,' Ruby looked up expected to see her friend smiling down at her. She moved towards the mirror, trying to conjure the image of her friend once more. Only her reflection was there. Taller than she should be, with hair that was growing redder by the day. Her eyes were still pure silver. But other than that she saw what these changes really were. 'What's happening to us?'

"I don't know," Pyrrha said through her mouth in her voice. 'But I'm so sorry. I never wanted this Ruby.'

'I know Pyrrha. But why us? Why me and why you?' It didn't make any sense.

'Do you remember what I told you about Amber and the fall maiden?'

'Yea, they used a machine to transfer her aura to yours right?' And her uncle Qrow was there as well.

'Right,' Pyrrha paused, finally coming into the mirror like she was stepping out of the dark. 'And I think part of it has to do with how the maiden powers worked. When a maiden dies they transfer their powers to the person they're thinking about last. When I was killed my last thought was that you had to stop cinder.'

'So I'm the fall maiden?' Great another thing she didn't need on her resume. 'I don't feel like I have magical powers.'

'I don't think you are either, but I think that might be why I'm here now. But I'm not sure, maybe we should find your uncle Qrow, or General Ironwood, they knew about the machine.' Images flooded into her mind like pictures in a gallery. At least some of their memories. Were still separated.

'I wanted to go to Atlus anyways to get weiss back.' Ruby smiled. They had a goal now. No matter how unusual. So much for this being a ghost story and all she had to do was make an unresolved love issue resolved. It was never easy. 'For the record, I'm blaming my growth spurt on you.'

'That's probably fair actually.'

"Now to get dressed and to die of awkwardness," Ruby mumbled running the towel over her head once more. Though at this point the towel was wetter than her hair. 'I am so not looking forward to this.'

'Yes, we are,' Pyrrha smiled in the mirror before she vanished. 'But mostly you're just nervous.'

XXXX

The door to the bathroom opened and Ruby strode out dressed in her pajamas. They were a black set with white polka dots acting like falling snow, previously they had fit her well if a little loose. Now the top and the bottom was separated by a small amount of Ruby's pale skin much like the set she had lost at Beacon, but the largest changes were in the chest, the buttons were strained, ready to burst at any moment. The entire outfit looked a couple sizes too small.

And despite his best intention Jaune couldn't help but be drawn to those tight places. A clear reminder that he was at the very least a hot-blooded male no matter how depressed he was. He watched her walk to the bedroom toss her clothes into a pile and slam the door again. A button went flying.

"Dammit!" Ruby swore.

Jaune turned his attention to the plate of cookies (Fresh out of the oven) he had managed to keep Nora away from and the hot chocolate he had made for Ruby. It was a cheap tactic but he needed to talk to Ruby tonight. Before he talked himself out of it.

"This was my favorite." He heard Ruby mumble from behind him. And chivalrous instincts kicked in.

"I have a spare sweater if you want it, It has pumpkin Pete on it, but I don't think it'll ever be to tight for you." Damn did he really just say that? Not that you're umm fat or anything it's just that well I mean. Look I-"

"Jaune," She laughed sounding just like Pyrrha. Damn. there it was again. "I understand, thanks."

"No problem, it's uhh with my stuff." Hopefully, she wouldn't dig through his underwear. Jaune tried to turn his attention towards whatever B-movie was playing on the T.V., apparently with the towers still down the town was limited to just three movies that it kept on repeat. He had no idea what was happening. "Sorry if it smells like me!"

He would have loved to imagine Pyrrha in his sweater, sniffing it and looking at him saying that she liked the smell. Something like that was never going to happen though. Damn, that was why he needed to talk to Ruby about. Whatever feelings-

His mind - and whatever muscle kept his jaw from falling open - stopped working when he saw Ruby. He got the same feeling he normally got when he looked at her, that she was cuTe with a capital T and that she was beautiful. But wearing his hoodie, blushing like mad with her hair partially covering one eye, everything was amplified by ten.

She sat down on the couch next to him and wasted no time in eating a cookie. "You're a jerk for bribing me with cookies and hot chocolate."

Her pout was something else. Had Pyrrha been like this he might have picked up on something. Probably not, hell he might just be hyper aware of things because he missed something so obvious. No, that was wrong Ruby was just a friend and he was just looking to far into it.

"Would you prefer I didn't make you cookies?"

"I'd prefer if you never stopped." She took another one, followed immediately by a sip of hot chocolate. "So umm, what did you want to talk about?"

Okay, he could do this. He could do this. It was no big deal. He had fought Grimm and dealt with Cardin. And yet somehow this adorable girl was more terrifying than all of that. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she spun a giant scythe around like it was nothing. He could just ignore it. People were used to him being oblivious.

No. He had to stand firm. He wasn't going to let what happened with Pyrrha ever happen again. Even if she did have feelings for him, now wasn't the time. They had a mission and he still thought about Pyrrha every day, even if Ruby was slowly joining those thoughts. This was just a confirmation, nothing big.

"Jaune?" Ruby snapped her fingers at him. Again she said his name the same way Pyrrha did, but there was a lot of Ruby mixed in there. Why did she keep reminding him of her? "You okay? You're kind of zoning out."

"Oh umm, yea I'm fine." he really hated that word. Every time someone said it it was a lie.

Ruby smiled resuming her half curled up position on the couch, her legs tucked into his sweater. Her silver eyes boring a hole into his soul. "Well, what did you want to talk about?"

She sounded so gentle and patient.

"Well, I umm We've been spending a lot of time together. Well I mean we are traveling rather far as a group. But I just mean that me and you have been alone a lot. Not that I'm ungrateful for training with you. It's helping. It's helping a lot. But." Jaune Arc; ability to talk to girls, zero. "And this morning when we were training you umm. Well I mean. What I want to know is. Do you like me?"

"Oh." That was all she said reaching for another cookie. Her eyes locked onto the T.V.

He waited. Waited for her to do something. Some hint was all he needed. Okay, he probably needed a lot of hints, an unhealthy amount of hints.

"Ruby? Are you going to answer me?" He asked drumming his fingers on the couch. This was worse than fighting a Grimm. Grimm were easy. It wanted to kill him and he wanted to kill them, either he would die or the Grimm would. Nice clean and easy.

She looked at him for just a moment. "I was kind of hoping you wouldn't notice. At least, not so soon."

"So is that a-"

Ruby rolled into him, her head hitting him in the chest, she scooted closer to him, eyes still focused on the T.V. "I'm changing Jaune, I don't know how or why, or even what I'm changing into. But I need you. I need you to be there for me. I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm scared, and you make me feel safe. So please. Be a constant in my life and wait for me."

"What?" Jaune swallowed hard, his arm moving on its own to wrap around Ruby's shoulder as she snuggled into him. "What's happening to you?"

"I don't know." Ruby said softly, she turned her eyes to him, she looked ready to pass out at any moment, or as though she was welcoming a kiss. "But, can you please wait a bit before we have this conversation again? I need to figure some stuff out first."

Jaune nodded. "I understand we'll talk later."

Damn, he had a weak spot for her.

Jaune didn't know how long they sat there, long enough to finish the cookies and the hot chocolate off, long enough for the movie to finish, long enough for Ruby to fall asleep. He picked her up, she was lighter than he thought she'd be, no matter how big she got he'd always be able to pick her up. And carried her to her bed for the night.

He tucked her in, brushing a bit hair from her face and smiling down at her. "I hope you figure it out soon Ruby, I don't want to lose you either."

 **AN: Feeling good about this chapter. Just the right amount of fluff and plot. Just need to figure out what I'm doing for the tyrion fight... and dealing with Ruby and Qrow.**


	6. Chapter 6

Faster.

The madman Tyrian had appeared and began to attack them without warning. His goal was simple. Her. He worked with Cinder, that much was certain. But his interest in Jaune, that lust for war in his eyes that was only directed at Jaune was enough to ignite the fire in both of her souls.

Faster. She had to be faster.

She spun Crescent Rose about at a dizzying speed, her defense an endless barrage of cuts that threatened to overtake Tyrian if he let his guard down for even a second. She only knicked him, little more than a paper cut against his aura, but with enough of them, he would fall. She didn't let out a scream of rage, only focusing on the man in front of her.

He tried to attack her, but it was so simple to move his blade ever so slightly so that it bounced off the back end of her scythe. Faster. She needed to be faster. With a flick of her wrist, her scythe slammed into the ground an attack that Tyrian barely managed to avoid.

"Oh, that was close." The man began to cackle.

Shame he forgot that it was also a gun. She pulled the trigger nailing Tyrian center mass his aura absorbing the impact, but it was still more than enough to send the man flying backward and away from herself.

"I can see why Cinder had such a hard time with you now." More of that maniac laughter. Why wasn't he dead defeated yet? "But it looks like you're running out of steam, miss, Silver Eyes."

"She's not alone." Jaune stood between them shield up and ready to defend her.

"Yea!" Nora readied her hammer as she stood beside Jaune, "What he said."

She wasn't even injured though. Still, it was time for her to act as a member of team JNPR once again.

XXXX

For a moment he had forgotten where he was.

Ruby had always been a natural with the scythe, but this was something else entirely. She was spinning it around like it didn't weigh nearly as much as she did, the momentum under he complete control. He certainly didn't teach her most of those moves, and there was no way that beacon did.

She looked so much like her mother that he had forgotten when he was, he was back again to when he met that slip of a woman that stuttered and blushed one moment and then dance like a maiden of battle destroying Grimm like they were stalks of wheat. She had taught him so many things, but her first lesson was that people that people outside of his family could be strong.

Qrow allowed himself to smile as he watched Ruby press the attack, reacting in perfect timing with that blond haired boy like they had been partners for years. The other two reacted in kind, their trust was something else. Maybe he had been worried about nothing. Ruby wasn't the little kid she used to be, she was a huntress now, one with unknown potential.

He had forgotten who they were fighting. One of Salem's elite.

Tyrian twisted like a marionette without strings snapping out of the way of both Ren and Nora's attacks like they were amateurs while delivering a blow that broke Ren's aura like it was nothing. Their foe had the initiative now, Ruby swept in her face expressionless like she was in a battle trance. That wasn't normal.

She bounced off of blonde boy's shield and went in for a finisher. One Tyrian saw coming. "Crap."

Qrow charged. His sword unfurling as he closed the distance between them. It was too late. Tyrian's stinger embedded itself into a gap in Jaune's armor. Shit. The boy screamed in agony as the stinger pumped poison into him.

Well, better late than never. Qrow sliced the tail like it was made of steel string. Tyrian screamed as a purple liquid spilled out from his much shorter tail. "Sorry, I'm late kiddos."

"Gah!" Tyrian whined, skittering away like a cockroach, mumbling something about Salem and forgiveness. "Cheaters, you cheated."

Qrow sighed, letting him go would be a bad idea, but there was the boy to consider. Trading a life for a life was Salem's game, not his.

"Jaune!" Ruby, screeched, her daze finally snapping and panic spread across her face. She ran to the boy just in time to catch him from falling. Was she taller? "Are you okay? Jaune! Speak to me!"

Jaune waivered like a reed on the wind, purple tendrils of the poison already appeared along his body. Not good. It was spreading fast. "Ruby?" Jaune asked, blinking, he swallowed before he focused on Qrow. "Why's your asshole here?"

"Settle down kid," Qrow walked over to him and shouldered as much of Jaune's bulk as he could. Damn kid must weigh a ton. "We need to take him to camp, his wound is bad."

"Right," Ruby nodded, eyes still fixed onto the blond boy. Why was it always the blondes? "Uhh, it's this way I think. And umm Uncle Qrow, what are you doing here?"

"Taiyang asked me to." He sighed, no she deserved the truth. Or at least some of the truth. "I've been following you guys since you left Vale, and we have a lot to talk about."

XXXX

Jaune's hair was greasy, gross with sweat, and stained with a bit of blood. Yet she couldn't stop touching it. She had never seen him so lifeless, his normal vitality being eaten by that scorpion Faunus's poison. His head was resting in her lap and she kept looking towards the fire and her uncle, who was halfway to being drunk.

'Should we ask him?' Pyrrha's voice resonated in her head as clear as a bell. They had separated again, a clear line between each other. In the battle with Tyrian, there was no such line. Still, she would have thought their feelings for Jaune would have kept them fused until he was not playing ding-dong ditch with death's door.

Ruby glanced at her uncle again, before her eyes fell back to Jaune. His skin was a pale purple, looking more and more like a zombie from her comics with every moment. "Do you think he'll make it?"

'That's not what I meant," Pyrrha said again. 'But I want to know too, Jaune will live, he has to live.'

'Fight Jaune,' She ran a hand along his cheek, it was far too cold. 'You have to keep fighting.'

He opened his eyes, puffy, more red than blue or white, his voice but a whisper of wind. "Pyrrha?"

'Close enough.' It brought a smile to her face, even as he fell back into his death like sleep.

"That's up to him Squirt," Qrow slurred, swirling his flask to see how much he had left in it. Apparently not enough, as he growled putting the flask back. "I'm no expert on poisons, but the stuff Tyrian was packing was, uhh potent. To say the least. But I got a good idea of your uh," he gestured at them with one finger in a circle, "boyfriend, he's packing some serious aura, if he focuses on living, he might just be able to recover."

"He's not my boyfriend." Her cheeks felt red as she said those word. It was the first time anybody had ever called anybody her boyfriend.

"Yet," Qrow snapped pointing his fingers at her. "I know that look squirt, it was the same look that my sister had for Taiyang at one point."

"And my mom? Did she look at my dad like that?" She bit her lip looking back up to her uncle.

His posture slumped and he fell back against the log he had been using as a seat. He always had the same somber look whenever her mom was brought up. "Yea, she looked at him like that all the time, made him feel like the luckiest man in the world."

Jaune groaned again, his fists were clenched tight enough to stain his knuckles white and palms red. In one way Qrow was right, Jaune did have a lot of aura, but whether or not he would he would fight, well there was no question about that.

Ruby smiled, grabbing one of Jaune's hands feeling it relax. 'It's a good thing he's not awake for this.'

'He probably would just think we're being friendly.' Pyrrha gave a heavy sigh, an image of her resting her head on Jaune's shoulder while her hand overlapped his blasted into Ruby's mind.

'And yet, he figured out that I liked him, or that you're making me like him.'

'Sorry!'

'Pyrrha, stop apologizing for this, you didn't cause it and, honestly, I'm kind of happy you're here.'

If a ghost could blush, Pyrrha most certainly was. 'Thank you, Ruby, I'm happy I got uhh paired with you as well'

'Cause it'd be awkward if you got paired with Jaune?'

'Yep.'

"You sure he's not your boyfriend?" Qrow was drinking from his flask again. "Also, what-"

"What happened to Pyrrha? With the machine and Amber?" Ruby didn't let go of Jaune's hands, even now he was giving her strength. She didn't want to know, but she knew she had to. This wasn't something she could just close her eyes and ignore. Qrow looked shocked. "What is a maiden? Why was Beacon attacked? Why do you know all of this?"

"Right, I guess you were bound to pick up some of that stuff." Qrow rubbed the back of his head like he had been caught stealing from the cookie jar. "I'll explain things as best I can, but I'm really just a scout and a warrior. Ironwood would know the technical stuff about the machine used to transfer Amber's aura into Pyrrha's, and Ozpin would pretty much know everything else. Wait, how do you know about that machine anyway?"

"Pyrrha, told me about it before she uhh died. But what about Ozpin? I thought he died too." She did not need to let Qrow know that she was currently thinking for two. Or something. At least not right now, maybe after she got at least some clue on what was happening to her.

"Oh don't you worry squirt, Ozpin's still alive and kick'n. I just need to find him, it's one of his abilities."

"So his semblance lets him fake his own death?" Ren asked, Nora, sitting close to his side.

Qrow flinched like he had forgotten that there were two other people in the camp, in his defense they were being rather quiet. Well, Nora was, Ren was being his normal not very talkative self. Not that she could blame them, one of their teammates had died, and another was doing his best not to die.

'Do you think if Jaune dies he'll get absorbed into my head too?'

'Ruby!' Pyrrha snapped, 'can you please not think that!'

'Sorry I'm panic thinking!' Ruby bit her lip and tried to think of something else. 'With how tall he is I'd be a giant!'

'Ruby!'

'Sorry!'

Qrow gave a dry laugh. "Sure, I suppose you can say that point being he'll probably show up when it's time." Qrow pulled out a cane, Ozpin's cane, and pointed it at Ren. "Took his cane for a reason, that way he'll come to us."

"Alright Kiddos, sit back because I think it's time for a much-needed history lesson about the schools, the artifacts, the maidens and most importantly Salem."

 **AN: To those of you that offered to be my beta, thanks! I uhh haven't gotten back to you yet due to losing my job(I didn't like it anyways). I wrote this guy in about a night. and I really hate the fight scene. I hope the time skip wasn't to jarring. I'm trying to avoid just rewriting canon. Which is pretty much the only reason Jaune got poisoned instead of Qrow.**

 **Anyways. Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Support me at Ko-fi / Yojimbra just with a com in there somewhere.


	7. Chapter 7

"Have you forgotten about me already Jaune?" Pyrrha asked from behind him, her voice sweet but with a bite to it like poisoned honey.

Jaune spun in the misty courtyard of Beacon. Where was she? She should be here, right? This was Beacon. This was where Pyrrha was, this was where they met. She had to be here. She sounded so close! "Pyrrha? Where are you?"

"Have you forgotten what I look like already?" Pyrrha's voice came from behind him again and he spun once more. Only to see Ruby standing there as she used to be, that short bubbly girl with hair like a black coal with a spark of life still within it.

"Or am I just her replacement?" Ruby's voice sounded from behind him he spun again to see Ruby as she was standing next to Pyrrha, as tall and as statuesque as ever towering over Ruby by nearly a foot. The difference between the two was a clear as day. But why did he have such a hard time telling them apart?

"I," Jaune, muttered, his voice harsh and jagged like he had eaten shattered glass. "What are?"

"I am Ruby," Pyrrha' said in Ruby's voice.

"I am Pyrrha," Ruby said in Pyrrha's voice.

"Did you love me Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, sounding normal for once, she stepped forward placing a hand on his chest, it burned like ice. "You didn't even know how I felt about you until I kissed you and died."

"I," What could he say? Did he even have anything to say? She was right of course, he did love her and didn't even notice it.

"Do you love me Jaune?" Ruby walked up to him, smiling sweetly, she touched him in the same way that Pyrrha did, her touch burning like fire. "Are you sure that's even how I feel about you? Did I ever once give you any signs that I cared about you as anything more than a friend? What makes you think that's changed? What makes you think that I love you?"

"What do you see in her?" They both asked, voices blending into one harmonious symphony that sent a chill running up and down his entire body. It felt like he was plugged into an electrical socket made of kisses and hand holding and all the nice things he dreamed of when he looked at either of those girls. His eyes closed against his will.

"What do you see in me?" He found himself on his back. Staring up at the sky filled with leaves that twinkled like stars. His head was resting on something soft, and warm. Her head appeared, Ruby as she was now, with silver eyes and hair like the embers of coal, growing redder with each passing day while maintaining her black roots. It was still Ruby, but it was easy to see Pyrrha in there. "Do you see a girl that loved you? Do you see a girl that you can love?"

Jaune tried to speak but found himself unable. He did see those things. He saw them as plainly as he saw her. Or at least he thought he did. "I don't know, maybe?"

"Like you didn't know that I loved you?" Ruby asked, sounding much more like Pyrrha in that moment, her eyes changing from silver to green, and her hair breathed like a coal growing redder for a moment. Then she was back to normal. "Or how you don't know if I love you. Because Jaune, you heard my answer. It sits in the back of your mind gnawing at your every action, making you think twice about everything. How far is too far? How close is to close? What is she changing into?"

She smiled leaning down close. "My favorite is will you like what I'm changing into? Will I still like you when I'm done? What will change? Will anything be the same? Will you lose a friend? Will you gain a lover."

"I." He tried to speak again, but she stopped him this time.

"You shouldn't try to talk, you know how bad you are at that Jaune. Your actions will always speak louder than words. So get out there and shout." She vanished in a swirl of burning rose petals, and he found himself falling into the ground the night sky enveloping him like a blanket. "But to do that you need to wake up."

"Wake up Jaune."

"Wake up!"

XXXX

Everything hurt. A lot. It was worse than his first time that Pyrrha actually trained him for real instead of taking it easy on him. It was worse than that time he fell out of a tree and broke his arm. It was worse than a lot of things. And yet despite this pain, the first thing Jaune did was try to move. A mistake that nearly caused him to scream in pain.

Instead, he whimpered and waited for the world to stop spinning. He was in a bed, a soft one at that and the room smelled like the tea Ren made. The walls were a dull blue and wooden beams dotted the wall every couple of feet. Where was he? Where was everybody else? Shouldn't Ruby have stayed with him?

Not that she had to it just would have been cute to wake up to her sleeping next to his bed holding his hand.

The last thing he remembered was being stabbed by that freaks tail. And then pain lots of pain. Bits and piece came into his mind, a few bits of clarity among a storm of nothingness, ruby fed him a few times, he remembered looking up at her a lot. The forest leaves. A scream. And then he was here. Where ever here was.

With a grunt Jaune forced himself to get out of bed, he was shirtless with a bandage around his abdomen where that Tyrian jerk stuck him. That was the area that hurt the most like someone had stuck a fire poker in there and stirred it all around. "At least I have pants on."

They weren't even his, they were brown and loose, almost like they dressed him in a potato sack. A really nice potato sack that was actually a lot more comfortable than his jeans were, but a potato sack nonetheless. Hopefully, they didn't belong to anybody.

Sliding open the door Jaune felt his breath leave him, not from the beauty of the mountains and forests that greeted him, not from the city that blended into the land so well it felt like it belonged as much as the trees and animal. No, what took his breath away was Ruby.

She had changed again, not in any one major way, but in a thousand smaller ways. Her hair was longer - now kept in a small ponytail near the base of her neck that allowed her bangs to move freely - and redder at the tips so that it looked like a roaring flame emerging from fresh charcoal.

There was a magic to the way she moved around the courtyard Crescent Rose her partner in a deadly dance with each movement leading into the next like art in motion. She was getting better with her scythe, and she was already a monster with it before. With a spinning leap that turned her into a pinwheel of death that led to a final slam against whatever invisible foe she had been battling against. Honestly, the look in her eyes was more than a little terrifying. And a lot of hot.

She took a deep breath and stood to bask in the sunlight with her eyes closed for a heartbeat, then they opened and her silver eyes met his blue ones. She smiled at him, and in the time it took for his heart to skip a beat at that smile she had vanished in a swirl of petals. "Jaune!"

Either he had gotten slower or she had gotten a lot faster. Because the next thing he knew Ruby was in front of him rose petals falling like snow as she slammed into him, squeezing him with a hug of death. "You're alive! I mean you were alive before! But now you're awake!"

She had gotten taller, now his nose rested in the middle of her forehead.

"Ruby, a little too tight." As nice as hugging her was, most of his body was still yelling at him for getting out of bed.

"Oh!" she loosened her hug but at the same time pressed into it, before backing away. "Sorry Jaune, I was just excited to see you up and shirtless."

"What?"

"I said up, nothing after up, nothing at all!"

"Right well, so, what did I miss?" Jaune asked trying his best not to blush or notice Ruby's blush. She asked him to wait before they did anything, whatever that thing might have been. And he was going to respect that wish. Mostly because he still had no idea what the hell he was going to do either. It just didn't feel right to Pyrrha, especially because he kept seeing her in Ruby.

He didn't want to take advantage of Ruby's feelings like that.

Ruby seemed to agree and leaned on the railing looking out over the city. "Well, you got poisoned, my uncle Qrow showed up told us a bunch of stuff about how the academies protect artifacts, there are these women called maidens, magic is real, apparently Ozpin is alive, we fought this really mean Grimm that attacked Ren and Nora's village when they were kids. Then we got picked up by Mistral's air patrol, and now we're in Haven." She took a breath and smiled at him. "Oh! And Ren and Nora are official now."

"Wait, what? How long was I out?" That seemed like a lot of stuff happened.

"Like three days." Ruby shrugged her eyes flickering to his, and then down to his bare chest and back to his face again. "I'm happy you're back Jaune."

"Uhh, thanks, but I didn't really go-" He was silenced when she leaned over resting her head on his shoulder. He had been in this exact position before, hadn't he? Just with Pyrrha and they were sitting down. Okay so maybe it wasn't exactly the same but it was close enough. What should he say? What should he do? Was this an admission? Was he supposed to ask her now? What was he supposed to ask her? He should say something! "I umm like your new clothes."

She smiled, eyes distant as she reached out to lay her hand over his. Her off-white shirt was secured around her waist with a belt and her poofy sleeves were still secured with the same arm braces as before, but her chest-torso-stomach-area was different, instead of a corset a couple leather belts wrapped around her waist securing her shirt and skirt, while a bit of eye-catching cleavage remained on top. "Thanks, Jaune, but they're not really new, I'm just not wearing my corset anymore, I kind of outgrew it. The boots are new though."

Whether or not she meant to emphasize her chest by making it move like that was something Jaune doubted he'd ever find out. "Oh well, it's a umm good look for you. You look beautiful"

She turned red and turned towards him burying her face in his shoulder. "Don't say stuff like that yet. I'm not ready for it."

"So does that mean no to the talk still?"

"I'm not asking for a lot am I?"

"No." Jaune hugged her with what strength he could muster. "Of course not. If anything I feel like I'm the one asking too much."

"Does that mean I can ask you to be shirtless more often?" They stood frozen for a second as those words sunk in. And then Ruby pushed away from him, trying to hide her blush in her knees as she looked away from him. "Sorry! Pretend I didn't say that!"

"Umm, yea. Sure." Jaune felt his entire body heat up at that. Both from what Ruby asked and how cute she was being. That meant that Ruby thought he was, what? Cute? Hot? Sexy? "But I suppose that I can work in some training while shirtless."

"Jaune!" she cried turning to look at him once again, a pout on her mouth. "You're teasing me!"

"Only cause it's cute," he laughed as she turned an even bright shade of red. "I'm sorry Ruby, I won't tease you like that again."

"Put a shirt on you jerk!"

"Hey Lovebirds!" A very drunk Qrow slurred from the courtyard. How long had he been there? Not that long, he was just now starting to smell the booze waft up to them. Hopefully. "Get down here! I found him!"

"Who?" Jaune asked. Ruby appeared to be incapable of doing anything beyond pouting at the moment.

"Who do ya'think! Ozpin!" Qrow sauntered back into the house swaying with each step like he was trying to keep an imaginary beer in his hand upright. "Now come on we got stuff to talk about."

Ruby gasped and began to draw small circles on the ground. "Jaune, whatever happens, tonight, please don't hate me okay?"

"Ruby?" He took a step towards her placing a hand on her back. "Should I be worried."

It worried him that she didn't answer.

 **AN: I totally didn't use Jaune's P.o.V. to skip to mistral. nope. that did not happen! Anyways! Who's ready for some drama next chapter?**

 **If you watch Boku No hero Acadamia, I have a fic of that up call Synergistics, it's about a quirkless Izuku that becomes and inventor and ends up with Mei. Please check it out.**

 **Support me at Ko-fi / yojimbra or not up to you.**

 **Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Apparently, Ozpin was a really old soul that bonded new souls every time he died in his quest to kill Salem, who cinder was working for and the artifacts that the schools protected were super important and that he was the one that gave the maidens their powers. Oh, and magic was real.

Ruby sat on the couch, arms folded on her lap as she stared at the coffee table trying to gather enough courage to say something. Or to decide if she should run again. Running seemed like the best option. She was good at doing that. She could be halfway to somewhere not here before they realized she was gone. She'd also probably get lost and eaten by some giant scary Grimm thing but that was almost a bonus at this rate.

'He's like us,' Pyrrha mumbled for the tenth time since Ozpin had revealed his curse.

'We don't know that okay? For all we know this could just be some freaky thing that's just really freaky and only happening to us!' Ruby took a breath drawing in like she was about to speak. Only for that breath to die when she became aware that all eyes were on her, Jaune's - who sat right next to her his hand resting on top of hers (How long had that been there? Why wasn't she freaking out about it?)- were filled with kindness reassurance.

"Don't be afraid Ms. Rose." It was unmistakable that voice that came out of Oscar's mouth. "If you have a question I'm more than willing to answer you." He chuckled tapping his cane on the ground. "But no, my cane is not the relic, it is just a cane from an old friend. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Actually," she swallowed finally managing to look at the boy Ozpin had merged with. Or was merging with. She just wanted to be in bed reading comics until this all went away. "There is one thing I wanted to ask you."

"I'm all ears." Ozpin leaned in on his cane, smiling like he had when they first met.

"Is it possible for what happened to you to happen to someone else?"

'That's not what we needed to ask,' Pyrrha said.

'I know! I'm afraid okay! It's not like I've had to do this before! Besides everybody is here! What if they want to talk to you, ask why we kept this a secret or I don't know, want to ask questions!' She bit her lip trying to keep as much of her freak out as inside as she could. It wasn't working very good. 'I'm scared.'

'Then let me,' Pyrrha said softly. 'We're in this together.'

Ozpin chuckled. "Quite impossible I'm afraid, in all my years I had yet to meet another person that shared my curse. No, I'm quite afraid I'm rather unique when it comes to this. Why do you ask?"

Pyrrha took over guiding her movements like Qrow did when he was first teaching her how to shoot a gun. She stood tall and proud. Without a moment's hesitation, she activated her semblance and pulled Ozpin's cane into her hand and drew in Crocea Mors with her other. "Because I think it's happening to us."

For once it looked as though Ozpin had no idea what to say, his mouth was slightly opened and he sat blinking at her. Even Qrow who still smelled like booze looked at her in shock. After all, nobody had two semblances.

"Pyrrha?" Nora was the first to speak up. "Is that you?"

"Oh, umm, Hello!" Pyrrha waved to them. Her cheeks were burning. "Again."

"Yep." Nora sat back on the couch. "That's Pyrrha alright."

"But why are you inside Ruby's body?" Ren asked, his stoic face returning before even Ozpin or Qrow could recover. "And why didn't you tell us?"

"It's because I was scared," She admitted, her voice falling through the cracks, the one proud pose she had diminished and both Ozpin's staff and Crocea Mors dropped to the floor. "We didn't know what was happening to us, and I kept hoping that maybe it would work itself out. But it hasn't."

She turned to Ozpin. "Does this mean we're cursed too?"

Ozpin opened his mouth only to close it once again. "I," he paused taking in a deep breath. "I'll be honest with you Ms. Nikos, Ms. Rose. I'm not an easy man to surprise, but today you have done just that. I do not know why or how you've ended up like this but, I find the matter most interesting."

"So your Aura machine had nothing to do with this?" They asked him at once. "It transferred Amber's Aura to me right? Could it have done, I don't know something to cause this?"

"Sadly, I doubt it's as simple as that. Ironwoods Machine merely transferred Aura, not the spirit and knowledge attached to it. If I was to hazard a guess it could be your punishment for failing to stop Cinder. But I am sorry to say that I do not have an answer for you." Ozpin reached down to pick up his cane, smiling at her. "Sadly, my connection with Oscar is still fresh, so I'm running short on time."

"Do you think this merging is why I've umm, gotten so tall?" Ruby asked, trying to look as small as possible. It almost scared her how easy it was for her and Pyrrha to switch, worse was how natural it seemed. Like they had always been like this.

"Honestly I have no idea." Ozpin was as helpful as always. "Is there anything else?"

"What happens if we beat Cinder and Salem?"

Ozpin laughed. "Now that Ms. Rose is the question isn't it."

Oscar shook his head, before rolling back into the chair, hand on his forehead. "Do you get a headache when you two switch?"

Ruby shrugged, "Nope, most of the time we don't even know it's happening."

Oscar groaned in response.

"So wait a minute." Qrow stood up, looking her in the eyes. "You mean to tell me that there's another person inside of you like what happens to Ozpin?"

Ruby nodded. "Sorry, uncle I wanted to tell you. Actually, that's a lie I didn't want to tell anyone. But it seemed like Ozpin would know what to expect."

"Fuck." Qrow slurred. "I'm going to go drink until I either blackout or run out of booze."

"Aren't you already drunk?" Ren asked.

"I'm always drunk."

"That explains a lot actually." Oscar joined in.

She laughed. And then she felt Jaune's hand fall on her shoulder. The look on his face was full of conflict as it danced between emotions. "Ruby… Pyrrha…." He sighed. "We, we need to talk."

XXXX

'On the plus side, he's still shirtless.'

'How is that a bonus! Now we're going to be distracted while he gets something off his chest!'

'I don't think anything else can come off that chest.'

'Oh god, are we turning into Yang now?'

'Still, he is kind of cute when he's flustered.

'And shirtless let's not forget that. Why was he considered a nerd again?'

'Socially awkward.'

'Right, that.'

Ruby sat on her bed, watching Jaune as he paced back and forth like a caged lion who's dinner was ten minutes late. It took all of her strength to not run away from him. Still talking to Jaune about all this was bound to be less terrifying that talking to Ozpin and Uncle Qrow about all this.

At least Ren and Nora seemed to be more or less accepting. But Jaune had been unusually silent throughout most of that conversation. And that was worrying enough. Then there was his pacing. "I thought you wanted to talk. All your pacing is making me nervous."

Jaune stopped in his tracks, his blue eyes were locked on her and his face was red. "I do want to talk."

"Then," she kicked her feet on the ground, a few months ago and they'd practically be dangling off the bed, but now that didn't happen even with the tallest of seats. Least there was some benefit to being so tall. "Why don't you start?"

"I'm trying! Okay?" Jaune's mask broke and his flustered response was like the first time they met at Beacon all over again. "But it's not easy. I mean what am I supposed to say to you? To you and to Pyrrha? Or whoever I'm talking to. And for that matter what am I supposed to call you? Ruby? Pyrrha? Pyruby?"

"Well, I'm still me, and this is my body, Just call me Ruby okay?" She clutched at her heart, the line between them had turned into a boggy marsh. But there were still parts that were still her. "At least for right now."

"And what if I want to talk to Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, starting his pacing again. "Not that I don't want to talk to you but I just mean. Well, guh! I want to be mad at you. But I'm also so happy that you're still here. Kind of."

"Jaune," Pyrrha spoke making small adjustments in how she sat with proper posture. "I'm still here as well, anything you have to say to one of us you have to say to both of us. We'll know who you're talking to."

"But I won't!" Jaune scratched his head and sighed, his bare shoulders slumping. "I don't mean to yell I'm just really confused okay."

"Join the club."

"Right, sorry." His eyes met hers for a few heartbeats. "I guess I should ask when this all started."

"Do you remember that night I told you I was talking to imaginary friends in the bathroom and you made me hot chocolate?" Ruby smiled, that was some good hot chocolate. Anything sweet would be good right now. Especially if they were cookies. "That's pretty much when it started."

"That long? And you didn't think about telling any of us? Me?" Jaune asked, anger flaring across his face for a moment. He cooled immediately. "No, that's not fair you were probably freaking out about having a ghost in your head or something right?"

"Pretty much."

He rubbed the back of his head, he was embarrassed. "And well, then does that mean that-"

"If you're asking about my feelings for you," Pyrrha stood, smiling for both of them. "They haven't changed Jaune, and as for Ruby,"

"There might be something there," she finished. "I mean it's always been there. Before we left Beacon even. But that's really not what I'm trying to say." Why did Pyrrha make this seem so easy? Wow, that was something she'd never thought she'd think. "What I'm trying to say," She touched his chest, feeling him twitch and flex under her touch. This was just like one of Blake's books that she totally didn't read. In one sitting. "Is that all three of us love you in one way or another."

"Three?" Jaune squeaked. He was cute when he was flustered.

"Yep," Ruby began. "Myself, Pyrrha."

They let themselves fall into that mire blending into one person and one mind using Jaune as their anchor. "And the woman we're turning into. We, I still need you Jaune. It doesn't matter as a lover or as a teammate. So long as you're there with us." She dragged her finger along his chest, breathing in the warmth his aura put off. "And for the record, you can call me Ruby as well."

Jaune was red, confused and flustered. He was spurting and trying his hardest not to touch her. "So, I'm going to be dating all three of you? Like at the same time? I'm going from no girlfriend to three."

"Technically it's just me," Ruby smiled pulling her hand back from Jaune's chest. "But I'm slightly crazier than normal."

"I knew that when I first met you," Jaune reached out and touched her cheek. "But, is this okay? I mean Pyrrha-"

"Jaune, last time I had to kiss you thirty minutes before I died to get the point across. Please don't make the same mistake again." Pyrrha took control. "Believe me when I say that you are something that we want."

"So I can do this with no guilt, right? There's no-"

She grabbed onto his stupid face and kissed him on his stupid mouth to shut him up. Motion per motion is was exactly like the kiss she had given him that night in Vale. It was short and meant the world to all involved. And this time there was no locker to shove Jaune in. And he wasn't going to let her go this time. His hands fell to her hips and he kissed back. "Does that answer your question?"

"When can we do that again?" Jaune asked, his nervousness replaced with a dopey smile. "I can't believe I got a girlfriend and she's a kick-ass huntress too."

Ruby was in control now, Pyrrha floating off into her mind humming happily to herself. So that was what it was like to kiss a boy. It was exciting, and like eating a cookie, but without a cookie. "We, umm, can try again, tomorrow sometime. You know, after we have lunch together or something? Kind of like a date. Maybe?"

"Oh! Good idea! We can umm, have a picnic with just the two of us. I'll cook it! Or umm, yea! Tomorrow. Lunch date!" He laughed, he kept staring at her in a way that made her blush. It was like she was the only girl in the world. She didn't want to be noticed or stared at, but with Jaune, with Jaune, she felt like it was okay to be special.

A slam came from the living room, followed by a thud and cursing. Qrow was back.

"You better get back before my Uncle decides to murder you." Ruby flapped her arms. What was she supposed to do with them now that she wasn't touching Jaune? Where was she supposed to look? How long was too long to keep staring into his eyes? Where was Blake and her books when she needed them?

Jaune looked confused again. "I umm, why would he do that."

"Well, you're shirtless." She touched him in the middle of his chest. "You're my boyfriend, we're alone, and he's overprotective."

"Oh right!" He stumbled backward, not taking his eyes off of her searching for the door. "I umm, I'll see you tomorrow, for our umm date. Right we have a date. One I should plan for. And umm I'll wear a shirt! And actual pants. Probably shoes and umm. Well, you can wear whatever you want I'm sure you'll look great in anything and umm."

"Jaune!" She followed him to the door.

"Shutting up now."

Pyrrha took control again and gave him one last kiss, that was barely a heartbeat. It still made his face light up like a firework.

"What happened to tomorrow?" A smile twitched onto Jaune's face.

"We've waited long enough Jaune," Pyrrha gave him a light push out the door. "You can't blame us for getting impatient."

 **AN: Chapter 8 already? Sheeeeeesh. Anyways as per Canon Ozpin knows fuck all. And hey look Jaune and Pyruby (That's not actually their name) are dating now! Huzzah! Kind of. Anyways probably a pure fluff chapter next week, with a bit of Yang. I also don't know how many chapters this story will have. I'm kind of running out of canon and I don't want to make up my own Salem murder plot. After I finish with this I might do a fast forward to like after everything is said and done.**

 **Anyways please reveiw! or not, up to yo.**


	9. Chapter 9

There were many reasons why Nora walked into the bathroom that had been designated as the girl's bathroom, chief among those was that her hair was a mess and she really needed to comb it. Okay fine, the real reason was that her now boyfriend - finally - Ren had asked her to check in on the combination of Pyrrha and Ruby that was hadn't come out of said bathroom since she ran in there about three hours ago. And it was getting real close to sleep time.

As to why she didn't knock. Well, she was Nora, and currently jazzed up on Ren love to be able to control her strength and didn't want to break any more doors.

There were many things Nora thought she might see when she entered the bathroom: Ruby floating in the air as metal bits of stuff floated around her, Ruby and Pyrrha making out in the bathroom making out, A bunch of mini Ruby's running around freaking out that they some how fell apart - okay, so maybe she did have too much sugar before bed, but that was Ren's fault he was her boyfriend now it was his job to make sure she was sane - and the brief thought that she'd be walking in on Jaune and Ruby kissing each other also flashed through her mind.

"Woah," But all those things did not prepare Nora for what she saw when she entered the bathroom. It was Ruby, just Ruby, standing there, just standing there. That wasn't what took her breath away or make her question how much of a Rensexual she was. No, it was the girl's body that gave her pause. Ruby had gone from that small little girl and the third chair at the short but deadly club to being, well just wow.

She wasn't quite as tall as Pyrrha had been, but now that Nora got a good look at the girl she was starting to see bits of her friend in Ruby more and more. The hair turning from black at the base to Pyrrha's glorious red like flames rising from the charcoal to the way she held herself, with that same polite regalness that Pyrrha once did.

And then there were the boobs. Pyrrha had a great rack, one of the best Nora could claim she saw firsthand, full, perky, and with beautiful nipples. Ruby had a bubbly chest, that was by no means small. Now it was like those boobs got added to each other, and were currently trying to break out of a poor bra that was putting up a valiant attempt on holding back a tide of boob flesh.

Nora closed her mouth and shook her head, it wasn't that it was rude to stare at them, not with a pair that even Ren would have boob envy for. No, it was that Ruby hadn't even reacted to her staring or even coming into the bathroom. And normally there'd be a shriek or if Pyrrha was the one talking probably a polite hello followed by an equally polite dismissal.

Instead, she got Ruby just standing there, one arm followed across her stomach as she looked into the mirror.

"Ruby?" Nora asked hopping around to look into her friends face, silver eyes were dilated focused on the mirror. She wasn't checking herself out, this was the creepy horror movie kind of staring in the mirror. "Pyrrha?" She snapped her fingers in front of Ruby's face, the girl blinked so that was good. But no response. She was not used to being ignored for so long.

"Pyruby, Rubyrra!" Still nothing. With a growl, Nora latched onto Nora's breasts and began to shake them all around. "Come on tit-zilla did you hypnotize yourself massive melons, and holy crap these things are soft!"

"Uhh, Nora?" That sounded almost exactly like Pyrrha did, or Ruby doing a very good impersonation of Pyrrha. Nora looked up to see those silver eyes staring at her with one eyebrow raised, her lips pursed into a confused expression. "Could you please let go of our breasts?"

"Oh, so your knockers work like a door knock, good to know for the next time you decide to zone out like that." Nora let the breasts dropped, they really did have a nice bounce to them. She took a step back reaching for one of the combs that had already infested the bathroom. They'd only been here for a few days and already the bathroom was infested by girl clutter. It was impressive really. "So what was with that?"

"Ruby started to freak out about us moving to fast with Jaune," Pyrrha sighed looking back at the mirror. She poked her own boob, adjusting it back into the bra as best she could. "I was trying to calm her down."

"You really need a new bra." Nora ran the comb through her hair, pulling her head to the side as she caught a knot. This was why she kept her hair short! It was nothing but a tangled mess once it got past her shoulder. And even then it would still eat combs like they were toothpicks. "But is Ruby all good now."

"She," Pyrrha paused, "I think that if I wasn't in control right now she'd be hyperventilating and trying to run away. It's mostly my fault though, I kind of forced Jaune into a date with us and kissed him. Twice."

"Woah!" Her arm twitched and she pulled the comb out hearing several tears and a sting on her scalp. Dammit. "Way to go Pyrrha! And Ruby! That is a good thing right? I mean it's Juane and at least one of you has been chasing him for a while, but now you have a real date! That's more than me and Ren! All we do is cuddle and hold hands. Which I mean is a lot better than it was before where he didn't even admit to liking me, well he did but it was always 'Not now' and all that other stuff. I should make him kiss me!"

She flexed, smiling up at Ruby. "Oh! Wait, so you're okay right?"

"Well, I don't think we've been actually okay for a while, but I am looking forward to tomorrow, and despite Ruby's worries she's just as excited about. This is actually the longest I've been the one in charge." Ruby smiled, running a hand through her hair.

"Here, let me do your hair then you can do mine, we can have a girl talk!" It had been forever since Pyrrha brushed her hair! Her friend was fantastic at it, she needed to be with that ponytail. Ruby, or was it Pyrrha, nodded, grabbing the stool to sit down. "So should I call you Pyrrha or what right now?"

"I think I should have addressed that with everyone in the room." She laughed. Her hair was so long and smooth! Was this what long hair was like? It was great! Especially Pyrrha's, or Ruby's with how it changed colors naturally. "But Just call me Ruby, it'll make things easier in the long run."

"What do you mean? You're still Pyrrha, right? And Ruby is still Ruby right?" Well aside from the fact that they shared the same body and had boobs for two, maybe two and a half. Okay, she was adding Pyrubysexual to her list.

"It's not really that simple, but well," Ruby sighed, grabbing a strand of her hair. "Imagine that the dark root is Ruby, and the red tip is Pyrrha, see how the color slowly changes along the hair?"

"Yes, I get it you have super pretty hair, what's the point?"

"Now can you tell me where the red starts and where the black begins?"

Nora looked at the hair closely, "I umm, I don't really know?"

"That's kind of what its like for us, er, me at the moment. At the extremes we know who and what we are but the closer we get to each other the harder it is to tell who is who, and in the middle, we're more or less one person, Ozpin might be able to explain it better since he's done this so many times." Pyrrha smiled looking Nora in the eyes through the mirror. "And well because this was Ruby's body and I'm the foreigner I decided it was only fair to use her name."

So she was going to leave again. Nora bit her lip, trying to fight away the tears of losing her friend again. "I'm going to miss you."

"Nora," She laughed. "I'm not going anywhere. Neither is Ruby, we're just being rolled into one super awesome, slightly Jaune obsessed, kick-ass Huntress."

"Cinder and that Salem lady are so fucked with you here." Nora ran the comb through Ruby's hair letting it down into a wave. "And Jaune is especially boned."

"That's part of the plan!" Ruby chirped, "Though, I'm hoping to be the boned one."

"Pyrrha!"

"Sorry! It slips out!"

"Down girl, sheesh, were you always this thirsty?"

"Yes?"

"Why did that sound like a question?"

Pyrrha smiled. "I really did miss talking to you Nora, you're a good friend, and umm sorry about keeping this a secret from you."

"Aww, don't worry about it. If I had a crazy ghost in my head I'd probably stop eating sugar and hope that fixed it." It worked the last time she was hearing the voice of Odin in her head. But nobody needed to know that was a thing. "Anyways, why don't we try to figure out an outfit for tomorrow that will really knock Jaune's socks off."

"I'm fairly certain I'm already wearing it." Ruby didn't even bat an eyelash, just smilingly as pleasantly as ever.

"But, you're in your bra and panties."

"I know." Ruby's face twisted, the smile going from one of shock and horror to one of pure embarrassment, her cheeks flushed pink. "Pyrrha! Don't say stuff like that! It's bad enough you kissed him twice yesterday! This is a mistake! We need to run away and hide!"

"Oh, umm, hi Ruby. Do you umm, want me to stop combing your hair?" So this is what it was like talking to a crazy person. It was kind of fun.

Ruby sighed, shoulders slouching, and a pout forming on her face. The body language was apparent like a flip had been switch, while Pyrrha was proud and regal, Ruby tried her hardest to not be seen, going so far as to cross her arms over her chest. "No, sorry Nora, I'm just nervous, besides it feels really good."

"And I really would like your help getting ready for my date with Jaune tomorrow, I'm not exactly good at the girly stuff." Ruby half mumbled trying her hardest to avoid looking in the mirror. "I'm still not used to how I look either."

Nora smiled, "I don't think you'll have to try much, you've turned into a grade-A hottie, besides." Nora tossed the comb behind her sending it bounding into the bathtub behind her, she pulled Ruby's hair into a ponytail. "This is Jaune we're talking about, you really don't have to try hard to get his attention anymore."

"Didn't Pyrrha spend like a year trying to get his attention?"

"Details details, now let me work girl!"

 **AN: Enjoy.**


	10. Chapter 10

She was late.

Well, not that late, but late enough that he was starting to at least kind of sort of worry, not that he wasn't doing that already. He was fairly certain that he didn't get any sleep last night, and despite eating almost nothing he stomach was doing flips and it felt like he was about to pass out.

But there was no way that he was going to run away from this - passing out was another story - he basically had a date with one of his best friends and the first girl to kiss him, all rolled into one incredibly hot package. Also, as Ren put it, she was thirstier than Nora in the middle of summer.

"Maybe I should have set us up on the grass? If we're going to be eating on a balcony we might as well be sitting at a table." He sighed running a hand through his hair and pulled at his hoodie. It was a little cold out, maybe he should have thought of something besides a picnic, like well, a movie night? Home-cooked dinner? Anything. "Why is this whole dating thing so hard? And I'm basically dating two girls at once."

"Seriously, why is my first relationship so problematic?" Both hands were in his hair now, scrambling his brain. He wanted a nice simple romance, the kind where he'd get a cute girl in Beacon, get married, have some kids, and just have a simple life as kickass huntsmen.

And why was there a crow glaring at him?

"What if she grows taller than me?" Not that there was anything wrong with tall women, it was just he always pictured himself as the taller one, would Pyrrha, Ruby, be okay with dating someone shorter than them? Ruby probably not considering how she used to be so short, but Pyrrha might not mind.

The door slid open and his heartbeat began to quicken. Oh no! He was so not ready for this! For any of this!

"You're so going to-" Nora's head popped out of the door the giant grin on her face fell when she looked him up and down. "Seriously, you're dressed like that?"

"What's wrong with how I'm dressed?" It was just a hoodie, shirt, and jeans. "This is what I always wear."

"That's actually the problem." Nora rolled her eyes, then shifted, turning her head back. "Huh? What? Yes he's wearing jeans. What? How am I supposed to know if his butt looks good in them? Hey! Don't hit me because you can't control your own mouth. Oh, screw it!"

"Quit squirming and get out there you giant freak!"

"I'm not that tall!"

Ruby was thrust out into the open. She was in a word breathtaking, her hair was woven up into a knot in the back of her head that looked like a rose with black and red petals held in place by a golden pin. Everything about her looked like she had put in extra effort, from the laces on her white blouse to the red sash that acted as a belt made her waist pop against the black pants she was wearing. A red eyeshadow that faded to black brought out the shine of her silver eyes and the ruby red of her lipstick brought everything together. It all looked so very Ruby, but just extra.

He understood what was wrong with his clothes now.

"I wasn't talking about your butt! Nora was just messing with us and umm" Ruby spluttered out her face growing redder by the second and she fidgeted with a strand of her hair. "And, there's nothing with your clothes I like your hoodie, and it's just a picnic and stuff so I don't know why I'm so nervous. Ahh, I'm sorry!"

That's right, he wasn't the only one nervous about this. His fellow socially awkward nerd was still there and freaking out just as much as he was. Probably more so. And Pyrrha was in there too, who despite all of her social graces was just as awkward. He really shouldn't have worried so much.

Or maybe he wasn't worrying enough.

"You look great Ruby, I like what you did with your hair." He went to grab for her hand but stopped and turned to gesture towards the picnic. Smoothe Jaune smooth. She kissed him last night and this was how he was going to act? But that kiss was part of the reason why he was so nervous!

That and he hadn't seen Qrow all day.

A smile cracked on her face and she fumbled with her bun. "Thanks, Ren did it. Nora did my makeup too. I think they're more excited about this than we are." She extended her hand out to him blinking at him. "Umm, the food looks good!"

"Oh, uhh well it's nothing really, just some of the stuff I used to make back home." Looks like all those domestic skills his sisters had drilled into his head were finally being put to use. He took her hand and guided her down to a seat. Their blanket was a blue patch pattern, and most of the food was finger foods and a few sweets.

Ruby gasped, darting forward to snag one of the cookies he had hidden under a napkin. "Cookies? Did you make these?" she didn't even wait for him to answer him before scarfing down the treat. "Oh my god, they're so good!"

"Uhh, yeah, I baked them in a different kitchen so you wouldn't sniff them out." Ren's idea really. "I kind of wanted to surprise you."

"Oh!" She snapped her mouth shut and concealed the cookies once more pushing the plate away from her. "Sorry, cookie senses and stuff."

"Don't worry about it, they're meant to be eaten, but why don't we dig in and umm, do whatever it is we're supposed to be doing on a date?" He had no idea what that was! They already knew each other, and all three of the minds in Ruby made it really clear that they were crazy about him. Which left him standing on the outside, wondering how genuine his feelings were, or if they were a result of her feelings or her looks.

"Right, date stuff." she folded her hands on her lap and pushed a defiant strand of hair out of her face. "Umm, what exactly do we do on a date, besides eat food and cookies, and stuff."

"I have no idea." He smiled, grabbing one of the red solo cups he had filled with soda minutes ago and handed it to Ruby. "But, uhh to the socially awkward?"

She snorted grabbing the cup and banging it against his. "Dork."

"Yea I know, but you're the one dating a dork so ha-ha."

A black and red sphere appeared in the middle of their food scattering it to the wind and knocking it over.

"My food!"

"The cookies!"

"Why is it always something!" he shouted scrambling up to get his gear. Ruby was already armed with Crescent Rose, barrel aimed at the object that was growling like an engine. "Do you have any idea what that is?"

"Not a clue!" Ruby shouted, all the nervousness was gone from her and she was ready to fight. She cocked her weapon. "But it wrecked my cookies! So it's going to pay!"

"I'll make you some later." Those cookies were a good idea, he'd have to thank Ren later. "Ren, Nora! We could use a- Oh."

A wheel appeared from the portal followed by the rest of Yang's yellow motorcycle. Weiss was riding on the back looking like she'd gone through hell clutching a frustrated looking Yang. Awesome, back up was here, but there went their date and what was left of their food

"Yang?" Ruby muttered, dropping Crescent Rose to the ground, snapping into its compact forum with ease. She was fidgeting now, squirming under a glare no one was giving her. "I'm sorry! I should have stayed, I should have talked to you more I just didn't know if you even wanted me there and I'm sorry I just -"

"Wait, a second," Yang stepped off her bike, heel crunching into something moist. She looked at Ruby like it was her first time seeing her. "Ruby? Is that you?"

"Umm? Yes? Mostly?"

"What the hell!" Yang shouted stomping over to her sister, she looked mad and her head was tilted down almost like she was staring right at Ruby's - "When did you get so big! You're huge now!"

Ruby turned red. "Oh umm, well I might have gotten a little taller I guess."

Yang shot up looking her sister in the eyes. "Holy shit you're taller than me too! How did this happen? How much milk did you drink? Is there more? Wait are these even real?"

"Yang!"

He probably should go try and save her from her sister but it didn't look like Yang was angry. Just surprised that she was now the little sister. And was now currently jostling Ruby's breasts. It was kind of hot.

"Jaune," Weiss nodded as she came to stand beside him, a blush on her face despite and hands folded ever so elegantly. She smelled like a bar. "Umm, did something happen to Ruby, and what were you two doing? It almost looks like you two were on a date."

"Oh, umm well you see we kind of were having a date, which Yang's motorcycle is currently parked on." He gestured towards the mess around him and sighed. "I worked really hard on that."

"Oh, umm, we should have appeared next to Qrow, I think." Weiss kept her eyes away from the two sisters. Something he was struggling to do as well. "And umm, what happened to Ruby, you can't tell me that's all just some growth spurt."

"Umm, would you believe me if I said Pyrrha's ghost is merging with Ruby and that's for some reason making her grow?"

"Not a chance."

"Then you better ask Ruby." He pointed towards them. "As soon as Yang is done comparing sizes." 

**AN: Brought to you by harassment on tumblr.**


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